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Endgame (episode)
Years after Voyager returned to the Alpha Quadrant, Janeway resolves to alter the past in order to help her crew get home faster. (Series Finale) Summary Year 2404 The episode begins with a 10-year anniversary/reunion of the survivors of USS Voyager's journey, following their return to Earth 23 years after being pulled into the Delta Quadrant (15 years after the events of the seventh season). It quickly becomes apparent that all is not well. Seven of Nine is mysteriously absent, as are Chakotay and Tuvok. We soon discover that Seven and Chakotay are dead and Tuvok's degenerative neurological condition has rendered him severely mentally ill. With the help of Reginald Barclay, the future/present Admiral Kathryn Janeway, hatches a plan to travel back in time to the period in which Voyager encounters a Borg transwarp hub veiled in a nebula. Using Ensign Miral Paris (Lisa Locicero), Tom and B'Elanna's daughter, as an intermediary, Admiral Janeway commissions a Chrono Deflector from Korath (Vaughn Armstrong) in exchange for getting him a seat on the Klingon High Council, using B'Elanna Paris' influence as Federation-Klingon Ambassador. The sole problem with the device is that it emits a large amount of tachyokinetic energy, which is dangerous to biomatter. Admiral Janeway then uses her connection with The Doctor to illicitly obtain 2000mg of chronexaline, an experimental drug that will protect biomatter from tachyon radiation. Later, when Korath tries to change the terms of the deal, at the last moment, she 'steals' the device. This angers Korath and he sends Klingon warships after Admiral Janeway. With the help of Harry Kim, now Captain of the USS Rhode Island, she fends off the Klingon warships and generates a temporal rift to Voyager. Year 2378: Back to the Nebula Her targeting is spot on and the rift takes her directly into the path of Voyager. However, the Klingon ships are still chasing her and she orders Captain Janeway to fire an anti-tachyon pulse, to close the rift, before the Klingons can come through. Captain Janeway objects to receiving any orders and Admiral Janeway pulls rank on her younger self. Captain Janeway concedes, in the press of battle, and closes the rift. Once on board Voyager, Admiral Janeway details the plan for Captain Janeway, equipped with superior technology, to engage the Borg and use a transwarp conduit to travel directly to the Alpha Quadrant. This transwarp conduit is buried deep inside a nebula that Voyager just passed. In fact, Voyager had tried to explore the Nebula but turned back when they detected the tritanium signatures of over forty Borg cubes and had a near collision with one of them. With that in mind, Captain Janeway objects until Admiral Janeway reveals that it will otherwise take Voyager another sixteen years and twenty-two casualties to make it home and that she brought superior arms, armor, and tactics, from the future. After the Doctor validates Admiral Janeway's genetic identity and Seven gives a favorable report on the technology, Captain Janeway reluctantly agrees to try the plan and gives orders to begin fitting the new technology to Voyager. After the refit, Voyager reverses course for the nebula. This alarms the Borg Queen, who has been monitoring Voyager since the first attempt Voyager made. The Queen contacts Seven through her regeneration chamber and warns Voyager to alter course or they will be assimilated. Captain Janeway, on more confident revelations from Admiral Janeway, decides to continue with the plan. Year 2378: In the middle of things Just before re-entering the nebula, Captain Janeway activates the new ablative hull armor. As soon as Voyager enters the nebula it is met by three Borg cubes who begin attacking Voyager immediately. There weapons are having little effect and the two Janeways smile at each other, on the Voyager's bridge. When the port-side Ablative Armor is reduced to 40%, Admiral Janeway nods to Captain Janeway. Captain Janeway them orders attack patern alpha one, on the lead cube, with transphasic torpedoes. Tuvok fires two rounds into the lead cube and it explodes. Then Captain Janeway orders the second cube targeted and Tuvok fires one round into the second cube and it is destroyed. The Borg Queen then orders the remaining cube to withdraw while Voyager proceeds to the center of the nebula. As Voyager approaches the center of the nebula they are greeted by the sight of a huge singularity. Orbiting the singularity is a huge Borg complex. Captain Janeway is stunned by this. Admiral Janeway, apparently expecting this, orders Paris to enter the aperture at coordinates 346 by 42. Captain Janeway quickly contermands that order and asks Admiral Janeway what it is. Admiral Janeway answers "The road home". At this point, Seven speaks up and identifies it as a transwarp hub. Captain Janeway then states that Seven once told her that there were only six of them in the entire galaxy. Captain Janeway immediately realises that Admiral Janeway knew about this and failed to inform her of it. Captain Janeway immediately orders Paris to withdraw Voyager from the nebula, much to the crew's amazement and obvious disappointment. Year 2378: What to do? Once back out of the nebula Seven briefs the others on the transwarp hub. Captain Janeway immediatly realises that they could deal the Borg a crippling blow and wants to find a way to destroy it. After a few scenarios are worked out, with more information from Admiral Janeway, it is determined that the hub can only be destroyed from their side because the Borg Queen herself controls all the interspatial manifold shielding directly and the Alpha Quadrant only contains exit apertures. The two Janeways are faced with a dilemma, They could either destroy the transwarp network or get home. Under the circumstances, they can't do both. Captain Janeway wants to destroy the transwarp hub and continue on the long path home. Admiral Janeway is severely against this and she reveales that Tuvok's neurological condition, which he kept secret from Captain Janeway, will be untreatable without urgent Starfleet medical procedures, and he will face irreversible deterioration without help soon. Chakotay and Seven would get married but Seven would die 3 years from then leaving Chakotay unable to deal with the trauma. He along with 18 other crew members will die in the continuing voyage home. In the end, Captain Janeway puts it up to a vote of the senior officers who all vote to destroy the hub and take their risks with the long road home. Year 2378: Have the cake and eat it too Taking that as a defeat, Admiral Janeway capitulates and offers to help increase the odds of success. During one late shift, the Janeways are in Voyager's mess hall when they try to still escape the dilema. Captain Janeway asks if Admiral Janeway is absolutely sure that there is no way that they can go home and still destroy the transwarp hub. Admiral Janeway says that there might be but it entails very high risk. That the key to the dilemma is the Borg Queen. As long as she controls the shields within the transwarp conduits they wont be able to cause the cascade reaction they need to destroy the hub from inside the conduits. In the end the Admiral Janeway, injected with a neurolytic pathogen developed by The Doctor, takes shuttlecraft SC-4 to the transwarp hub to infect the Borg Queen, disconnecting her from the interspatial manifold's shields and thus allowing them to get the destructive cascade effect, destroying the transwarp hub from inside the system. Through a careful subterfuge, Admiral Janeway tricks the Borg Queen into beaming her directly into the Unimatrix 01, the queen's lair, and trying to assimilate her. The Queen does this and is then immediately infected with the pathogen. As Admiral Janeway is being assimilated, by nano probes, the Borg Queen is being wracked by the infection and her cybernetic systems start disconnecting from her. Bit by bit, she loses communication, first with the conduits and then with the rest of the collective. Towards the end she retains contact with only a Borg sphere, who she orders to pursue and assimilate Voyager. As her physical body falls apart and she lies dying on the floor of the Unimatrix, she issues a self-destruct order and the entire transwarp hub complex explodes. The Borg Sphere ordered to assimilate Voyager continues the chase relentlessly. As it fires at Voyager, it begins to adapt to the ablative armor and begins to erode it. With shields and armor failing and the gaping maw of a Borg sphere docking port open behind them, Captain Janeway takes the only possible option and, relying heavily on the ablative armor, allows the sphere to swallow Voyager. Year 2378: Home In the Alpha Quadrant, Starfleet is on red alert after detecting the spatial disturbances of the conduit’s exit point. Reg correctly identifies it as a transwarp exit aperture and it is less than one light-year from earth. The only species known to use such technology are the Borg and Starfleet is immediately called to those coordinates in fearful anticipation of a replay of the Battle of Sector 001. A Borg sphere exits, and is immediately engaged, resulting only in the usual minimal damage. Suddenly, inexplicable explosions begin to occur, inside the sphere, and Admiral Paris orders a cease-fire. While they watch, the Borg vessel appears to destruct from the inside, in a series of shuddering explosions, until the entire sphere blows outward, and Voyager flies triumphantly out of the expanding wreckage, to everyone's stunned astonishment. Finally, after seven years in the Delta Quadrant, the long lost Voyager is escorted home. Memorable Quotes "Joe? It took you 33 years to think of Joe?!" :- Tom Paris to the Doctor, regarding the name he chose for himself "If you can't trust yourself, who can you trust?" :- Admiral Janeway to Captain Janeway "We did it." :- Kathryn Janeway, after seeing Earth on the main viewer "Set a course, for home." :- Kathryn Janeway (Last line of series. It was also the last line spoken in the show's pilot episode, VOY: "Caretaker".) Background Information *We find out here that there are six transwarp hubs in the galaxy *Although dealt a crippling blow, it is unclear if the Borg have been defeated once and for all, as the pathogen may not have had enough time to spread. Chronologically, this episode marks the final appearance of the Borg, although they went on to make a controversial appearance on ENT: "Regeneration". *Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Ethan Phillips (Neelix), Dwight Schultz (Lt. Reginald Barclay) and Alice Krige (the Borg Queen) all previously appeared in Star Trek: First Contact. Phillips was the only one to play a different character, having previously an unnamed waiter. *Tarik Ergin (Ayala) is the only actor, besides the regulars, to appear in both this episode and the pilot "Caretaker". *Kate Mulgrew (Captain Kathryn Janeway), Robert Beltran (Lt. Commander Chakotay), Tim Russ (Lt. Commander Tuvok) and Robert Duncan McNeill (Lt. Tom Paris) are the only actors to appear in every episode of the series. *The Starfleet uniforms seen in the altered future timeline were also seen in a similar future timeline in the final TNG episode "All Good Things..." and in the DS9 episode "The Visitor". *The phasers used in the future timeline would appear later as the standard sidearm aboard the ''Enterprise''-E in Star Trek: Nemesis. *The VHS release of this episode states that it was the first of two parts, however, this is a misprint as it was presented as a feature-length episode on television as well as on home video, and in the subsequent DVD release. *This episode introduced a seemingly out-of-place romantic relationship between Chakotay and Seven of Nine, and ending with little closure. This may have something to do with the fact that both the TV series Star Trek: Enterprise and the film Star Trek: Nemesis were in preproduction at the time. Also, writer Ken Biller admitted to waiting until "the last minute" before starting the final episode. Links and References Guest Stars *Dwight Schultz as Reginald Barclay *Richard Herd as Admiral Paris *Alice Krige as Borg Queen *Vaughn Armstrong as Korath *Manu Intiraymi as Icheb *Lisa Locicero as Ensign Paris *Miguel Perez as Physician *Grant Garrison as Cadet *Ashley Sierra Hughes as Sabrina *Matthew James Williamson as Klingon *Richard Sarstedt as Starfleet Admiral *Joey Sakata as Engineering Officer *Iris Bahr as Female Cadet *Tarik Ergin as Ayala (uncredited) References 47; ablative armor; ''Akira'' class; alternate timeline; Alpha Quadrant; assimilation; Ayala; Reginald Barclay; biobed; ''Bonchune'', USS; Borg; Borg Collective; Borg cube; Borg drone; Borg Queen; Borg sphere; Borg transwarp network; Chakotay; ''Challenger'', USS; Chell; chronexaline; chrono deflector; ''Defiant'' class; The Doctor; ''Excelsior'' class; Fleet Museum; ''Galaxy'' class; Golwat; kal-toh; Janeway, Kathryn; Kim, Harry; Klingon; Klingon Empire; mess hall; Milky Way Galaxy; ''Miranda'' class; ''Nebula'' class; ''Negh'var'' class; Neelix; neural interface; neurolytic pathogen; ''Nova'' class; Okaro; Paris, Miral; Paris, Owen; Paris, Tom; Pathfinder Project; phaser type-2; Presidio; ''Prometheus'', USS; ''Prometheus''-class; Red Alert Chili; ''Rhode Island'', USS; ''Saber''-class; San Francisco; Shuttlecraft SC-4; Seven of Nine; sickbay; Sphere 634; Starfleet Academy; Starfleet Command; Starfleet Medical; ''Steamrunner''-class; synaptic transceiver; tachyon; Temporal Prime Directive; Torres, B'Elanna; transphasic torpedo; transwarp; transwarp aperture; transwarp hub; tricorder; Tuvok; unicomplex; Unimatrix 01; ''Voyager'', USS; Wildman, Naomi Category: VOY episodes de:Endspiel, Teil I nl:Endgame